Farmers See Benefits in Protecting their Land

Yet another study records high marks for protecting farmland through Purchase of Agricultural Conservation Easement (PACE) programs.  The recently released New York Farmland Protection Survey* echoes the results of earlier studies on the satisfaction, motivation and future plans of farmers participating in these conservation programs.

This latest study reports New York farmers to have an overall satisfaction rate of 99% with the New York Farmland Protection Program, with 75% indicating they were “very satisfied.”  Similar studies conducted by American Farmland Trust of farmers in Vermont and Massachusetts registered 97% and 88% satisfaction rates, respectively.  Focusing just on farmers who had participated in the federal Farm and Ranch Lands Protection Program, University of Nebraska researchers found that 93% felt they had made the right decision in protecting their farms through the sale of conservation easements.

This high rate of satisfaction among participants is not surprising when you consider that the primary motivation cited by the farmers for enrolling in the programs is the preservation of land for future farming and future generations.  This sentiment was expressed by at least two-thirds of those surveyed in each of the studies.

64% of those surveyed in the New York study report that their intentions are to pass the farm on to children or other family members.  This strategy keeps with the overarching interest expressed by PACE participants to preserve farmland for future generations.  The earlier Massachusetts and Vermont studies also recorded that the majority of the participating farmers planned to pass the farm on to another family member.

To read about some of the innovative farmers behind these numbers, check out our latest magazine feature: Farmland Protection Trailblazers: Ten People, Places and Partnerships Making a Difference.

State and local government programs have protected over two million acres of farm and ranch land with close to 14,000 agricultural conservation easements across the country.  Permanently protecting farmland with a conservation easement is not perhaps for every farmer and rancher.  But as the studies consistently show for those who elect this option, they do so with a high degree of satisfaction and a strong commitment toward ensuring that their land contributes to the future of agriculture in their communities and families.

* The New York Farmland Protection Survey was conducted by the New York office of USDA’s National Agricultural Statistics Survey for the New York Department of Agriculture and Markets and American Farmland Trust.

About the author: Bob Wagner has been on the staff of American Farmland Trust since 1985 and worked in the field of farmland protection since 1981. In his current position, Wagner helps communities nationwide build support for and create policies to protect agricultural land. He can be reached at bwagner@farmland.org